Paloma San Basilio

Paloma Cecilia San Basilio Martínez (born 22 November 1950), known as Paloma San Basilio, is a Spanish singer, songwriter, producer and actress.

She was awarded with a Latin Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award for contributions to Latin music.

She has sold over 16 million records throughout her career, with styles that range from melodic songs to pop.

She often appeared in various musicals such as the Spanish-language premiere production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Evita in Madrid.

Some other musical theater works include Man of La Mancha, My Fair Lady, Victor/Victoria, and Sunset Boulevard.

In the early 1970s, she married the athlete Ignacio Gómez Pellico; they divorced shortly after.

She had a daughter from that marriage, Ivana.

Paloma later started a relationship with businessman Claudio Rey; they have been together for over 30 years.

Paloma prefers to keep her personal and private lives separated.

She rarely speaks about her private affairs, yet she is respected by journalists.

She has a cordial relationship with the press, and she received the award Premio Naranja in the ‘80s, an award granted by journalists to those public figures with whom they better relate.

Paloma San Basilio was born in Madrid, lived her childhood in Seville and her adolescence in Lugo.

Before she started her artistic career in 1975, she began her studies of Philosophy and Psychology at the Complutense University of Madrid but never completed them.

During the first years of the 70's, she hosted the TV show Siempre en domingo and worked as an actress in a zarzuela show called Divertido siglo.

In 1975 she recorded her first album “Sombras”, which was an international hit including her own songs as well as classic songs like “The Way We Were”, “The Long And Winding Road” or “Feelings”.

Her following album, "Dónde vas" (1977) included more dynamic tunes, composed by Bebu Silvettu, and also ballads like "Dónde vas", that gave the record its name and that was pre-selected to represent Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1977.

Her influences are very diverse—from artists like The Beatles, Sarah Vaughan, Billie Holiday or Barbra Streisand to artists that she often listens to in her stay in Seville, like Lola Flores or Gracia Montes, which makes it impossible to categorize her in any musical genre.

23 October 1978, she recorded in the Teatro Monumental in Madrid her album "En Directo", where we can find one of her most popular songs “Beso a Beso… dulcemente”, as well as versions of classic solo international women songs — such as I Say a Little Prayer (Aretha Franklin), People (Barbra Streisand), Parole Parole (Mina) and "Sweet Sadie the Savior" (Patti Austin).

Also in 1978 the album was republished for the Latin-American fans, including versions like “Ahora” ("Ancora, ancora, ancora", from the Italian singer Mina) and “Sobre el arcoiris”, from The Wizard of Oz (Over the Rainbow) that she recorded in Spanish.

She also added a self-written song, “Atardecer”.

There were two singles in the album.

The first one, “Secretos”, from Bebu Silvetti and Miguel Tottis, is a disco song with high notes.

The second one, Beso a beso... dulcemente, which was also the name of the album, became one of her most successful hits and is now a classic in her repertory.

In December 1980 she released the musical Evita in many theaters like Madrid, Barcelona, San Juan de Puerto Rico, Mayagüez, Ciudad de México, Caracas, Panamá, Santo Domingo, San José, Bogotá, Quito, Lima, Santiago de Chile and Miami with huge success.

Paloma's fame was in ascent not only in those countries she visited, but also in those where her play Evita did not arrive due to political problems, which was the case of Argentina, where a military dictatorship had taken over the country at that time.

Her outstanding performance in Evita made both the character and the actress become closely related.

It was released both in a double disc and in a single disc edition.

Andrew Lloyd Webber himself, one of the authors of the play, praised and depicted Paloma as one of the best Evita's performances.

According to the critics of the moment, she created this character such a way, that hat not existed in her predecessors.

Again, her vocal abilities were surprising in songs such as "Buenos Aires", "La Nueva Argentina" or "Vals para Eva y Ché".

When Oliver Stone was going to shoot the film, something he never got to do, Paloma was one of the soundest candidates to interpret Eva Perón.

Evita was performed for a two-year period, during which her next two studio albums were released.

"Ahora" (1981) increased even more its popularity with songs like the famous "Juntos", "La Hiedra", "Recuerdos (Memory)" (main theme of the musical Cats and "El Inmenso" (with arrangements slightly different from the ’78 release). This album is one of the most celebrated of the singer and includes a beautiful photo shoot, made by the photographer Antonio Molina. It meant her return to the discographic world, after a three-year break. "Dama", her following album (1983), became famous for songs like "Dama", "El aire del sábado tarde" and other rhythmic sounds such as "Bailando", "Fiesta del interior" and "Unas vacaciones". Between 1983 and 1984, she started in Puerto Rico a triumphant series of tours throughout Latin America, and on her return to Spain she presented her new work "Paloma", which was already a hit in Latin America with "Por qué me abandonaste" and was one of her best-selling works.

Synthesizers and instruments could be heard in this album, that were very common at the time.

She was also co-author of several of her themes, something she would often do in the years that were to come.

In 1985 she participated in the Eurovision Song Contest with the song "La fiesta terminó", name of her new album composed and produced by Juan Carlos Calderón.

By then Eurovision took place in the Swedish city of Gothenburg and was an important thing for her career, despite of not getting very high score in the ranking.

According to her style, she included versions of classics like "Sin ti (Without You)" original of the Welsh band Badfinger, "We're All Alone", of Rita Coolidge, adapted with the title "Impaciencia", or "Que Va Que va" (the classic song "Manureva" by Serge Gainsbourg).

She announced her retirement in 2013, touring in Europe and America.

She is currently doing a symphonic tour in Colombia, where she will be stopping in Armenia, Cali, Bucaramanga, Pereira, Bogotá, Medellín and Manizales as one of her last musical projects in her artistic life.